Critical Thinking in Everyday Life: 9 Strategies

Most of us are not what we could be. We are less. We have great capacity. But
most of it is dormant; most is undeveloped. Improvement in thinking is like
improvement in basketball, in ballet, or in playing the saxophone. It is unlikely to
take place in the absence of a conscious commitment to learn. As long as we take
our thinking for granted, we dont do the work required for improvement.
Development in thinking requires a gradual process requiring plateaus of learning
and just plain hard work. It is not possible to become an excellent thinker simply
because one wills it. Changing ones habits of thought is a long-range project,
happening over years, not weeks or months. The essential traits of a critical thinker
require an extended period of development.
How, then, can we develop as critical thinkers? How can we help ourselves and
our students to practice better thinking in everyday life?
First, we must understand that there are stages required for development as a
critical thinker:
Stage One: The Unreflective Thinker (we are unaware of significant problems in
our thinking)
Stage Two: The Challenged Thinker (we become aware of problems in our
thinking)
Stage Three: The Beginning Thinker (we try to improve but without regular
practice)
Stage Four: The Practicing Thinker (we recognize the necessity of regular
practice)
Stage Five: The Advanced Thinker (we advance in accordance with our practice)
Stage Six: The Master Thinker (skilled & insightful thinking become second nature
to us)
We develop through these stages if we:
1) accept the fact that there are serious problems in our thinking (accepting
the challenge to our thinking) and
2) begin regular practice.
In this article, we will explain 9 strategies that any motivated person can use to
develop as a thinker. As we explain the strategy, we will describe it as if we were
talking directly to such a person. Further details to our descriptions may need to be
added for those who know little about critical thinking. Here are the 9:
1. Use Wasted Time.
2. A Problem A Day.
3. Internalize Intellectual Standards.
4. Keep An Intellectual Journal.
5. Reshape Your Character.
6. Deal with Your Ego.
7. Redefine the Way You See Things.
8. Get in touch with your emotions.
9. Analyze group influences on your life.

There is nothing magical about our ideas. No one of them is essential.

Nevertheless, each represents a plausible way to begin to do something concrete
to improve thinking in a regular way. Though you probably cant do all of these at
the same time, we recommend an approach in which you experiment with all of
these over an extended period of time.
First Strategy: Use Wasted Time. All humans waste some time; that is, fail to
use all of their time productively or even pleasurably. Sometimes we jump from one
diversion to another, without enjoying any of them. Sometimes we become irritated
about matters beyond our control. Sometimes we fail to plan well causing us
negative consequences we could easily have avoided (for example, we spend time
unnecessarily trapped in traffic though we could have left a half hour earlier and
avoided the rush). Sometimes we worry unproductively. Sometimes we spend time
regretting what is past. Sometimes we just stare off blankly into space.
The key is that the time is gone even though, if we had thought about it and
considered our options, we would never have deliberately spent our time in the
way we did. So why not take advantage of the time you normally waste by
practicing your critical thinking during that otherwise wasted time? For example,
instead of sitting in front of the TV at the end of the day flicking from channel to
channel in a vain search for a program worth watching, spend that time, or at least